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The Purpose of a Fairytale

You may have heard the quote: “Disney gave me unrealistic expectations of men.” I’m not sure who invented that statement, but I have to question their accuracy. We have a tendency to blame fairytales for our distorted views of what love should look like, but you never see anyone blaming Disney for making us believe that animals can talk. You never hear anyone complaining, “Oh man, and I really thought last night would be the night Peter Pan showed up at my window.” And when’s the last time you tried to kiss a frog?

Let’s face it, we’re not really expecting to take a bite of a poisoned apple and wait for our Prince to come wake us from a comatose state. No one really expects that to happen. So why are we blaming Snow White for our troubles? Sounds to me like she had it a lot worse than I do.

Fairytales weren’t written to give you a distorted view of romance; they were written to instill hope in the hearts of those who want to give up on living. Prince Charming aside, fairytales are all about chasing your dreams and finding the courage to step into the unknown. That’s the true romance and adventure of a fairytale.

Though many of us still love fairytales to this day, we started watching them as small children – back in our “boys are icky” days. I know that I, personally, did not watch Cinderella for the wedding scene at the end, but for the music and the mice and the adventure that led up to that fateful moment at the ball. When she met Prince Charming, I wasn’t sighing because it was romantic, I was shouting, “Take that, you evil stepsisters!” That was Cinderella’s real victory. She lived as a sweet-hearted servant until she finally rose to the princess position that she deserved.

So stop blaming Disney for your broken dreams, and read the rest of the story. There’s so much more to life than finding Prince Charming. Happily ever after is the end of the story… Try living once upon a time.

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9 thoughts on “The Purpose of a Fairytale”

This is so true. I like the magic and strength displayed in fairy tales. And I’m not sure what to think of Prince Charming, beside the fact that he is there and rescues the princes and he is someone she’s been waiting for. I would never want to depend on someone like princesses depend/rely on their princes. But I guess that will come later.

Hey! Amazing post and insight! I’ve always been a big advocate of fairy tales and stories because they do give hope. Not only an earthly hope but I also believe fairy tales resonate with our souls because they are a small taste of God’s love for us. I also like how you talk about living and not just worrying about finding prince charming. Believe me, its always when you stop searching that he comes along anyway!

Holy cow you have no idea how long I’ve been looking for a blog like this. I was just reading a different blog on how Disney had given the blogger false ideas of marriage and unrealistic hopes for everything from hair to purpose in life. No, Disney is not the culprit.

I disagree. I think the problem is much bigger than Disney but it contributes. It teaches children gender specific roles and while we focus on the exciting story-lines we absorb the other messages like women need to be saved by a man, men have eyes for only one woman etc. We learn quite early on that the magical elements of the stories are not transferable to real life but no one corrects our perceptions of males until we meet our prince and realise our education was insufficient.

Thanks for jumping in and sharing your opinion, K. G. Obviously we have a different mindset about this. Fairytales aren’t all about a guy saving a girl. In fact, Beauty and the Beast has it the other way around. Belle is the one who ultimately saves the beast. And I believe that there’s at least a time in the “so this is love” process that a man DOES only have eyes for one woman. It’s sad to think that he would change his mind after choosing her. Maybe fairytales aren’t a good picture of the way things are, but rather of the way things SHOULD be. In any case, if the problems with fairytales is the only thing you’ve taken away from this, I think you missed to purpose of this post. It’s not about Prince Charming; it’s about chasing your dreams.